Evolution of a Kiss
by fidelius thistle
Summary: Lily has been wondering something about her two study partners for a while and finally gets up the nerve to ask them about it. LE/SS/RL


His first kiss, that is to say his first _real_ kiss, was ... interesting.

It took place two weeks before his sixteenth birthday, in the empty charms corridor well after curfew.

It had been a long time coming. With each passing "secret study session" he took part in he felt the tension rising. It was a magical thing that took on a tangible life of its own. The tension, not the kiss...though the kiss was, as it has already been stated, interesting.

Each time the three of them settled into their hidden table in the back of the library, on the nights when Gryffindor had Quidditch practice or in that particular case when all the other Gryffindor's in their year were home for the winter break, the urge became stronger. Every time Lily flicked her hair over her shoulder and Remus chewed the end of his quill in thought. Every time Severus tapped his long pointer finger against his thin lipped mouth. Every time one of the trio wetted their lips or made eye contact while explaining a theory... Small sparks of awareness would burst to life. Running, half-cocked and totally blind, along the three teenagers nerve endings.

It started at the beginning of their fifth year and they lasted, for all three of them, until the twentieth of December. It was a Friday night, and the three of them had a special pass to stay late in the library. For most of the evening only the sounds of quills on parchment, pages being turned, and every so often one of the group asking the other two a question about their assignments could be heard.

The scratching of Lily's quill drowned out the almost inaudible sound of her throat clearing, and had it not been for Remus' excellent hearing it might not have been noticed at all.

"Is something stumping you Lily?" The slight gravel that was Remus' voice touched both of his study partners and while neither wanted to show it, made them both shiver just the slightest bit.

Lily's bottom lip had small, tooth shaped indentations when she finally looked up at the boys sharing her table and nodded.ƒ

"Yes, but it's not the assignment."

Her green eyes flicked from Severus to Remus and back before looking down at the parchment in front of her.

"What is it?" Severus asked in a voice that was low and gentle.

Lily took a deep breath and twisted her hair around the end of her pointer finger.

"Well... I've noticed...erm, that is...I-."

"Spit it out!" Remus' growl was filled with the barest touch of mirth and it made Lily smile.

"Yes, as I was... I've noticed the two of you... looking at one another. Are you, erm... are you queer?"

A brilliantly pink blush blossomed over Lily's cheeks and she looked back at the parchment on the desk in front of her.

Severus looked at his best friend and only female crush, before turning his eyes to Remus. He knew that most people would say that he was, in fact, queer because he fancied the other boy. He knew that no matter how much he said he fancied Lily as well it would always come back to the fact that while he liked one girl, he masturbated thinking mostly about boys.

"I don't know that I would categorize myself as _queer_ per se. I appreciate the male form, but I have also noticed that in certain instances, the female form is just as nice."

"In certain instances?" Remus' lips twitched at the corners and Severus knew he was trying not to smile, or laugh...or both.

"Yes. In certain instances."

Lily eyed Severus across the table. "And they are?"

Licking his lips Severus looked from Lily to Remus and back again.

"He didn't answer the question." There was no mistaking his thinly veiled attempt to avoid answering the question, but Lily let it slide.

"Alright. Remus Lupin, are you queer?" The blush was back again, though not as bright as before.

"No. I notice both forms equally." There was a playful teasing in his tone that made Lily giggle while Severus scowled. "Why do you wish to know?"

Lily's teeth dug into her bottom lip again and she fiddled with the corner of her parchment. "Well, you see, as I said I have noticed you two watching each another and I was just wondering why and if you were interested in... I was just curious is all."

Remus turned his head slightly to the side and nodded, "Just curious you say?"

"Yes," Lily blushed again.

Severus' eye twinkled darkly and he smirked, "You know, I have noticed something similar myself."

"Have you now?" Remus' voice was full of curiosity, but his eyes were bright and playful.

"Yes, I certainly have. At least once a night during our study sessions I have noticed Ms. Evans here looking your way and just as often I have noticed you looking back. If you and I are interested in one another, then by her own train of thought she must be interested in you and you in she. Am I correct?"

Lily closed her eyes and let her head drop to the table in front of her. A hollow thud mixed with the sound of a slightly muffled groan.

Severus smirked at the top of her head, "Am I?"

"Idontknowareyou?" Her words seemed to melt into one another as she lifted her face from the table enough to glare at her oldest friend.

"I think he is."

Severus looked at Remus and nodded his head. He had known when he had seen them looking at one another that there was no hope for him. Lily was beautiful and smart and Remus was handsome in a rugged animalistic sort of way. He held no delusions about his own features. He knew that he could stand to wash his hair more often and that even if he did he still wouldn't be considered slightly attractive let alone handsome. He knew that he couldn't compete with either one of them for the others affections, and decided in that moment not to even try.

"It seems that that is settled then doesn't it?" His voice was low and dark as he turned his black eyes back to the book in front of him.

Lily lifted her head and looked at Remus, a blush on her cheeks and a mix of confusion and sadness in her eyes.

"Sev?"

Severus didn't lift his head. "Yes?"

Remus put his elbows on the table and rested his chin atop his woven fingers. "What are you doing?"

"What does it look like I am doing Remus?" Still, he did not lift his head.

Something akin to irritation flared in Remus' golden eyes as he looked at the other boy. When he opened his mouth to inform Severus that it looked like he was being a sullen prat Lily cut him off.

"It looks like you are forgetting what I said before, about you and Remus."

Severus' hand fiddled with the corner of the page that he was about to turn. He hadn't forgotten what she said about him watching Remus; he just doubted that Remus had been watching him back.

"I haven't forgotten, I just didn't want to focus on my feelings when it is clear that the two of you have feelings for one another. Now, if you don't mind I am attempting to finish my charms essay."

Lily narrowed her green eyes and turned to face Remus. The look on his face was similar to the one on hers and Severus returned his attention to the book in front of him.

"Maybe we like you too Sev."

Severus lifted an eyebrow at the paper before him but kept writing. The doubt he felt expanded around him like fog rolling off a bay. Nothing in his presence suggested that he believed his oldest friend.

Remus, astute due to his affliction, felt keenly what was going on in his study partner's head. Deep in his heart he ached knowing that the other boy felt as though he wasn't even an option. Taking the initiative he leaned forward and settled his hand atop Severus'.

"Maybe it's more than like."

Severus' hand twitched under Remus'. It felt nice to have the other boys skin against his. He had touched Lily more then a few times during their friendship. He knew that her hands were soft and smooth and that her body felt light yet solid against his when they hugged. His powers of recollection where such that when he was alone in his bed he was able to conjure up the feeling of her skin under his hands. The feeling of Remus' hand on his, a slightly roughened palm against the thin translucent skin that made up the top of Severus' hand, made him shiver.

On the nights that he didn't think of Lily he thought of Remus. Often he wondered what the slight smattering of chest hair that he knew the other boy sported would feel like against his chest. Would it tickle or cause a small amount of irritation on his overly sensitive skin?

Severus took a deep breath through his nose, black eyes met green across the table and he flipped his hand over beneath Remus'. When their palms touched and their fingers linked Severus moved his hand up, lifting Remus' by proxy. When their hands were less then a hair's breadth from his mouth he pursed his lips and touched them to the slightly golden skin of Remus' hand.

The other boy was warmer then he expected and Severus realized that he liked that. His lips still on Remus' hand he let his eyes widen slightly.

Lily smiled shyly at him and leaned across the table until she was close enough to touch her lips to Remus' hand as well.

The moment of contact was one that the three would remember in the years to come with nothing less then happiness.

When Lily pulled back, her red lips warm from their contact with Remus' skin and her cheeks flushed pink, she looked from one boy to the other and felt time slow down. The air around the three of them seemed to grow warm and still, as though they were the only people in the entire castle at that moment.

Knowing that the time was right for what she wanted to do Lily leaned forward again and touched her lips to the skin of Severus' wrist. The difference between Remus' skin and Severus' was like the difference between night and day. While Remus burned hot, Severus was cool to the touch. His skin was smooth beneath her lips and she was unable to keep her tongue from slipping out and touching it. The bitterly sweet flavor of lavender washed over her and Lily felt her eyes drift shut.

Severus' eyes locked on Lily's lips as his heart sped up in his chest. The feeling of her soft mouth on his hand overwhelmed him for a moment. The only thing that kept him grounded when her tongue slipped out and touched his skin was Remus' hand beneath his.

The sound of his name whispered in Remus' wild voice drew his eyes up and away from Lily's mouth on him. When his black eyes touched Remus' golden ones he knew what was going to happen.

The other boy was leaning toward him, his lips slightly parted and damp. Time slowed even more as the two of them met, lips first in a soft kiss. Two sets of lips, one cracked and hot the other smooth and barely more then warm, greeted one another. What started out as the press of flesh against flesh soon became something bigger and far more wild then either boy had imagined for their first kiss. Lips pressed and moved, tongues slipped along one another and then... the soft feather light feeling of breath touched the corners of their mouths on one side. Opening one eye each they both looked into the brilliant green eye of their female friend, who they had forgotten, while her lips traced over theirs where they were joined.

Severus groaned low in his throat and turned his head to the side. The desire to kiss Lily was just as strong as the desire to kiss Remus and he refused to ignore either. With Remus' lips touching the left side of his mouth he turned his head and traced his tongue over Lily's pink lips.

Her breath tickled his face as she breathed her nickname for him into his mouth just before he kissed her fully. His girl, the only girl he had ever wanted, tasted so good. Like cinnamon tea and caramel biscuits and everything else that he loved. The feeling of her mouth on his was joined by growl-laced kisses from Remus on both of their faces.

For what seemed like hours the three of them kissed back and forth from one person to another. Their lips and hands roaming all over one another as time ticked by and the torches on the walls dimmed in announcement of the library closing for the evening.

Even as the other students, all of whom were unaware of the happenings in the most secluded corner of the book filled room, left for their dorms they kept on. Petting and touch, kissing and tasting... showing how much they had thought of each other with their lips and fingers and tongues.

It may have gone on all night like that if Lily hadn't decided to lie back on the table so that her boys could have more access to her neck and face. As she shifted across the table's surface she knocked a book to the floor. In the quiet of the now nearly empty library the book gave a loud thud and it hit the floor.

The sound seemed to draw the attention of Madam Prince because moments later they heard the sharp clicking of her shoes on the smooth stone floor.

Scrambling silently they arranged themselves into their proper places around the table just as the librarian came around the corner into their little private sanctuary.

"What in the world are you three still doing in here? The torches dimmed over twenty minutes ago."

All three of them blushed slightly.

"Sorry Ma'am. We were working on our Charms assignment and didn't notice." Remus said after clearing his throat.

The librarian pursed her lips, crossed her long thin arms over her barely there chest and nodded.

"Because it's you three, I won't be assigning detention, but you need to pack your things and head out now."

With more hustle then normal, the trio gathered up their belongings and moved out of the library. With a final nod to the librarian they made their way to a small alcove halfway down the hallway from the library's entrance.

Lily looked from Remus to Lily and back again.

"I hope you don't still think you have to be the odd man out Sev."

Severus smiled, something Remus had never witnessed before, and leaned forward just enough to run his thumb over her bottom lip.

"And if I said that I did?"

Remus moved so that he was standing with his arms wrapped around their shoulders.

"We would just have to show you again that you aren't."

~*~ FIN~*~


End file.
